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Haynesworth on Injury: 'It's Not Serious'

Both Redskins Coach Jim Zorn and newly acquired defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth tried to downplay the importance of an injection the player received in his left knee Monday, saying Haynesworth could be back at practice as early as Tuesday morning.

"It's not serious," Haynesworth said after he sat out Monday afternoon's hour-long session, the only practice at Redskins Park during the fifth day of training camp. "If I really had to play today, I could play."

Haynesworth, who signed the most lucrative contract awarded a defensive player in NFL history in the offseason, has played a full 16 games only once in his seven-year career, and that was back in his rookie season of 2002. Zorn, though, said the injection of Synvisc, which is similar to natural knee fluid, has no bearing on Haynesworth's durability this year.

"It's like a brace," Zorn said. "It's like a cushion. It gets you through two-a-days, basically. It doesn't stay in there forever. It dissipates. It helps cushion your knee if you got any abrasions or any kind of grinding going on. . . . During the season, the battle is on Sunday, but we're not hitting completely during the week like we are now. We're hitting every day, so it takes its toll."

Haynesworth said he had received similar injections in each of the last two years in Tennessee. He missed the final two games of the 2008 season with a different injury.

"It's nothing new for me," Haynesworth said. The shot, he said, "really [does] help. Your body produces this stuff, and it just gives me more, and it gives me more lubricant around the knee."

Haynesworth has shown himself to be a potentially dominant force in workouts thus far, and Zorn said his knee issue is "not at all" a long-term concern for the season.
He said the coaching staff, led by defensive coordinator Greg Blache, will manage Haynesworth's stamina and durability during the season by using him in a rotation that would include not only fellow starter Cornelius Griffin, but also backups Kedric Golston, Anthony Montgomery and, potentially, Phillip Daniels, who can also play end.

"He's not going to play 70 plays a game," Zorn said. "He's going to play a percentage, and some of that will be due to the situation, partly how he feels, partly the rotation that we've got to keep him fresh. He's 340 pounds, and to be able to go hard for 70 plays is difficult, as hard as they have to go to win on defense every play, the rotation is what we're looking for."

Cornerback Carlos Rogers also sat out Monday's practice, and he is yet to participate in an 11-on-11 team drill because of a strained left calf muscle. Though he said, "I would have to play on it if there was a game," he said he had no idea when he will be back to practice.

"I don't want to rush it," he said. "I just want to be careful with it. The coaches said the most important thing is just to be ready for the Giants [the opener on Sept. 13]. That's what I'm worried about."

Rogers said he is able to keep up his cardio work by riding a stationary bike. Zorn said he did not have a timetable for Rogers's return.

"He's just not well yet," Zorn said.

Wide receiver Roydell Williams had surgery to insert a plate in the little finger of his left hand, which he broke attempting to catch a pass Sunday. Williams will be out for at least a couple of weeks, Zorn said.

Betts isn't very good. If he were, the Skins would have had him in games much earlier. He's being discussed now only because Portis broke down last year. He's a liability in blocking, and not fast enough to be a game changer,or big enough to wear down opponents. A classic tweener that was really good in college, and really milk toast in the NFL>

With news breaking that the Philadelphia Eagles lost starting middle linebacker Stewart Bradley for the season due to a torn ACL, perhaps the collective Washington, D.C., media had injuries on their mind.

So Albert Haynesworth’s sore knee was under the media microscope after practice.

It was the first question of Jim Zorn’s media session.

"We’re just trying to keep his knee, which is sore from all of the work we’ve been doing, so that we don’t have to shut him down for more than a day or two," Zorn said. "I’m absolutely pleased with where he’s at right now."

Asked if he considered it a long-term concern for the season, Zorn replied: "No. Not at all."

Haynesworth has not played 16 games in a season since 2002, his rookie year. He has averaged playing in 13 games per season, so he does not miss extensive time when hurt.

Late last season, Haynesworth was slowed by a knee injury and missed two games.

Is durability a concern with Haynesworth?

"It’s a concern, but I wouldn’t single him out," Zorn said. "This is a violent game. You just never know. What I like about a football player is that he goes hard until he can’t go hard any more. That’s what we expect and that’s what a ball player expects from himself.

"I fully expect him to go as much as he can. Now he’s not going to play 70 plays per game. He’s going to play a percentage. Some of that has to do in part based on how he feels and the rotation we have. He is 350 pounds and to go hard for 70 plays is very difficult. So the rotation is what we’re looking for."

He responded by teaming with Stephon Heyer on several nice running plays.

Rinehart saw action with the first team to spell Randy Thomas during practice.

"We want to watch Randy Thomas and make sure he does not get overworked or sore," Jim Zorn said. "He kind of took a shot a couple days ago where his elbow hyper-flexed. He’s not taking any time off, so we have to force him to watch a little bit.

"Chad is coming on. We want mix guys in with the starting group so we can find that right formula."

I guess, after the previous RI article about Haynesworth, the one where he said he wasn't worried about his knee, when I asked that a second source, perhaps an orthopedic surgeon be checked with, RI interpreted that to mean they should ask his coach, Jim Zorn.

Okay, maybe if someone would ask Dr. Zhivago, Doc Golightly, or Doctor doctor, Mr. MD, that would be enough to set our minds at ease.

So for a football player like HAynesworth, expect his kneecaps to be replaced by 41, if not sooner....

Posted by: 4thFloor | August 3, 2009 8:09 PM | Report abuse

Never know. I'm just saying I wish I had Synvisc back when I was 27. My "playing days" might have lasted longer. The injection does make the knees slide more smoothly. So for a player, especially 350#, it could be simply a means of making the knees feel better and last longer.

"He has had this before," Zorn told reporters Monday regarding the injection Haynesworth received into his knee on Sunday. "This is something that we did from the start when we got here, right when we started training camp. It could've been done before but he hasn't been around and it is something that is very normal."

Wait, so the fact that Sunday wasn't the first time in the recent past that Haynesworth had something shot into his knee so that it properly could function counts as good news?

"One of the reason you get these injections, I've had them myself, in a training camp this is a great little product because it is like a brace, it is like a cushion," Zorn said. "It gets you through two-a-days basically; it doesn't stay in there forever. It helps cushion your knee if you have any abrasions or any kind of grinding going on, it cushions that, it gets you through. During the season, the battle is on Sunday but we're not hitting during the week like we are now we're hitting every day. It takes its toll."

Here's my concern, for the benefit of those whose daily agenda now includes trying to exaggerate anything I write about the team into some sort of anti-Redskins bias. I've been following the NFL pretty damn closely, every single day, for more than nine years now. Having something shot into a knee to provide artificial cushion so that a guy can get through practice in the first week of training camp doesn't sound like the kind of thing that should be inducing a head coach to shrug his shoulders.

As Zorn points out, Haynesworth weighs 340 pounds. And Haynesworth carries that weight around every single day. If the knee is bothering him in the first days of camp, it's going to bother him all year long.

So the real question becomes whether it gets to the point that it keeps him from playing, and eventually whether it limits the number of years that he can add to the seven seasons he already has spent in the NFL.

Though some would suggest that we're required to take whatever an NFL coach or a player says at face value (perhaps since they have such a strong track record of always telling the truth), think of it this way: With Redskins fans basking in the promise of a 0-0 record and with plenty of reasons to feel genuinely positive about the team's chances (and, for the Redskins this year, there truly are), would Zorn admit in early August to being genuinely concerned about Haynesworth's knee even if Zorn had such concerns?

Hell no, he wouldn't.

So unless and until needles aren't routinely invading the knee of D.C.'s $100 million, those inclined to set aside the rose-colored and/our half-full glasses and view the situation objectively should at least be mildly concerned that a bunch of money might have been invested in a very large man with a chronically bad wheel.

I hear you dude. "Needles are invading the knee of ... a very large man with chronically bad wheels" and you've got a screen-and-a-half of worries. Same old, same old. And any thinking person "should at least be mildly concerned."

I'm convinced. I'm mildly concerned. Life is risky; there are no sure things; bad things can happen.

Now, what's our next step? How should we act on our "mild concerns"? Should we write letters? Sign a petition? Demonstrate outside Redskins Park? Post them on the blog every time we read Haynesworth's name?

Unless you've got a better idea, I, personally, am going to sit back and see how it plays out.